Giraffes, Wagers & Dream Chasing

Manuella Stefani, 18 years old, from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil did this giraffe.
It is one in a million and it's beautiful : )


A young spirit has taken on a bet that she could gather One Million Giraffes within a limited amount of time.
She has about a year and a half to go and she has almost 1/4 of her Giraffes.
Not only do I think all kids should be supported on personal quests, objectives and goals... I think she has collected some awesome works.
All of the different shapes and forms, all the different things with which people make their giraffes.... simply awesome.

When I heard about this kids mission from Mel , I never imagined that on Saturday night I would be sitting around the house with good company, grilling out good food, making drip candles & doodling giraffes...


Imagination really is the only limitation and dreams are meant for chasing...

Home Sweet Home

A 21-year-old local woman reported Monday to police that she had been the victim of an early morning armed robbery in her home. According to the incident report; The RightBehindMe Street woman said around 5 a.m. she awoke surrounded by three men, one of whom held a shotgun to her face demanding to know where her money was located, and another with a gun to her back. One of the men, she said, held her at gunpoint in her bedroom while the other two searched or ransacked her home...(The Daily Tribune)

Craziness from a couple-few weeks ago.
As a bird flies, this was just a few houses away.
I am convinced she knew the perps & that there is much more to this story, but I don't know and regardless, I stand by my conviction that this is the friendliest ghetto in town...
There's no place like home...
and home is what we make it...

Humming to the tune of Guns n Roses...
'Welcome to the ghetto, we've gone fun and games...'

Faeries Wear Boots, You Gotta Believe Me...

Going to a concert this weekend with some friends...
Good times, good company ahead
We won't be listening to anything that sounds like this...
but
I do love Faeries, I do love boots & I love to believe...

Oh yeah, and I love good old fashioned classic rock...

As she runs faster and faster...

I have lived in this house longer than I have ever lived anywhere...nine and a half years.
106 years old now, it has seen a lot of stuff come and go...including people.
One day I, too, will go.
Six months ago, back in February, something very profound and personal happened which words could never really explain. In a moment or maybe it was in a hour, I don't know but...
I realized that all that really matters in the end is LoVe...
All-la-la-la-levels of it...
a love of food and a love of life, a love of laughter and a love of learning, a love of peace and a love of passion, a love of the water and the wind, a love of strangers and a love of ourselves, a love of a lifetime and a lifetime of love...
And all this stuff that for nearly 10 years now has been dog-piling in my house really doesn't matter.
If it's not useful or enjoyable, it's gotta go and even if it is useful and enjoyable...it still can go. It's just too much stuff. (Do any of you need anything?)
So ... rummaging through some old 'keepsakes' I found yet another old journal with all but two of the pages blank.
The first page dates the journal back by about 15 years.
The second page has a poem I wrote.
I'll post the poem & chunk the book, knowing the moment that I hit 'publish' the usefulness of it has been completed.
Maybe someone out there will enjoy or find it useful...
Maybe someone will just love it...
Maybe not, but the time has come

Colors of a Sucker

Spinning color wheels...
that's all of us.

individually & collectively...
colorful and bright, dull and dark
and sometimes void of all color.
Some folks are even filled with light.
Most of us have tinsel
spinning and ever-changing
with a core which is constant in that it is there...
if for nothing else,
but to hold together our strings, strands or ribbons
of who we really are and who we seem to be together.

Sometimes the colors dim, fade
sometimes seeing things through hazy shades
not seeing things so vividly
Sometimes one color spills over onto another...
and another and another.
sometimes that color is an absence of color

and sometimes those strings, strands and ribbons are really cardboard wands
Yup, sometimes we are just a sucker

But suckers are good...and colorful
why else would they give them out at the bank?

'Make Peace with the Past so that it doesn't screw up the Present...which just a moment ago, was the Future.'

Coffee, Tea, Sugar and Me

I Love Coffee & Tea...
And I drink both in the morning...
Sometimes, I drink both throughout the day
Hell, sometimes I drink them at night...
But IF I had to choose one over the other...
I would choose tea
And IF I had to give them both up
I would need help...
serious help.

Star Sight

When I say that I'd like to something someday...
sometimes, I secretly wish someone would whisk me away & we could do it right then and there.


Starlight, starbright...
shooting star, take me away tonight...

Let's not save all of our wishes for 'someday' and those moments when we get to catch a glimpse of a shooting star...
Perseids will be here someday soon...
In fact,August 12, but shooting stars happen every night

I wish I may, I wish I might...
catch a shooting star tonight

Little Gifts

Mother Nature.
Father Time.

We never know what little gifts the day may hold for us. I am not sure if this is the hairy slug thing, which I had posted about earlier, that has come to age or what...but it was perched upon my shop entry.

Pink, beige, brown, yellow and an airbrushing of white around the exterior edges, this baby was huge and had a main body which appeared to be covered in a soft fur.

Its head had two appendages which looked like feathers and it's back had two eyes which were so detailed it seemed as if they were looking back at me.

When its wings were open, its span was as big as my hand and it looked like it felt like suede.

I have no idea what it is exactly, but I know its truly beautiful.


Ever notice how some of the most beautiful people you've ever met become downright ugly over time, and the plain ones start to seem quite lovely after awhile?

I tried to ID it at the Bug Guide , but discovered that there are over 11, ooo species of butterflies and moths in North America only.

Funny how I don't remember the sky shining purple through these leaves that stormy day.
Sometimes, even in the simplest of moments, there is just too much for us to take it all in...
to soak it up, to be completely aware, to see everything and to recall it all...
If you had asked me if the sky glowed purple, I would have said 'nope...it's blue.'
Perceptions & perspectives.

But looking at it now, I see it clearly... a purple haze.

I have heard a gazillion times that it takes two years to get past a divorce.
Personally, I don't think some people ever get past it.
The notion of failure sits like a giant moldy boulder blocking their path as opposed to becoming a great jumping rock from which to bring dreams to fruition..

Two years ago today...I got my divorce.

Today, I have many folks I love contending with the issue...
I wish them stepping stones, jumping rocks & the peaceful beauty of changing skies...

Jimi Hendrix sang a song called Purple Haze & it is commonly believed that he wrote the song about LSD, but in fact the flip is true. The LSD was named after the song. The song was actually written in response to a dream he had about walking under water in the ocean and how his blind faith brought him to the surface, thus saving his life. It was recorded the same year I was born and is on the 'Are You Experienced' album.

Experienced indeed & more to come...

sometimes...
wading
floating
drifting
sinking
swimming
in the waters

sometimes...
losing
catching
holding
my breath

Sometimes...
climbing atop
jumping off of
dangling my toes from
sprawling myself over
pocketing
the rocks

in this purple haze

Always Living, Loving and Learning...
Faithfully

The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is.
- John Lancaster Spalding